At a glance
Open Disputes counts the AliExpress Dispute Centre cases that are live against your store right now and waiting on you. Under AliExpress buyer protection, a case that you leave unanswered past the platform response window can auto-resolve in the buyer’s favour, so this is not a passive scoreboard but a countdown you have to beat. For an owner, operations lead, or finance lead it is one of the most time-sensitive cards on the board, because a timely response or an early close-and-refund inside the window almost always costs less than a judgment against you. It pairs naturally withaex_dispute_ratefor the store-level trend and withaex_disputes_judged_for_buyer_30dto see how many recent cases were already lost.
| What it counts | The number of AliExpress Dispute Centre cases currently open against the store, with unresponded cases flagged by how long they have been waiting. |
| Sample type | Backend API data from AliExpress, refreshed in real time as cases are opened, responded to, escalated, or closed. |
| Why it matters | An unanswered case can auto-resolve for the buyer once the response window passes, costing the order value and dragging down your dispute and account-health standing. |
| Reading the value | Treat this as a worklist, not a trend. Any case unresponded for several days is an urgent task; the goal at every check is zero unresponded cases. |
| Currency | Count of disputes. |
| Time window | RT |
| Alert trigger | >0 unresponded for >3d |
| Sentiment key | aex_open_disputes |
| Roles | owner, operations, finance |
Calculation
Vortex IQ reads the live state of every Dispute Centre case for the store, counts those still open, and tracks how long each has gone without a seller response against the AliExpress window. Cases that sit unresponded beyond the configured number of days are surfaced as alert rows. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading.Worked example
A representative reading of Open Disputes for a typical mid-volume cross-border AliExpress store. On 13 Mar 26 the card shows 5 open disputes, and 2 of them have been waiting on a seller response for more than 3 days, tripping the alert. The operations lead opens the list, sees both ageing cases are buyer claims of non-delivery on parcels that did in fact scan, uploads the Cainiao tracking as evidence inside the window, and resolves a third low-value case with an early partial refund to avoid escalation. By the next check no case is unresponded. For deeper investigation, use Vortex Mind to trace upstream causes; for natural-language exploration, ask Ask Viq.Sibling cards merchants should reference together
| Card | Why merchants reach for it |
|---|---|
aex_dispute_rate | Turns the live case count into the store-level rate that feeds account health. |
aex_disputes_judged_for_buyer_30d | Shows how many recent cases were already decided against you. |
aex_late_shipments | Surfaces the late dispatches that are a leading cause of non-delivery disputes. |
aex_return_rate | Connects disputes to the broader refund and return pressure on the store. |
aex_buyer_messages_unread | Unanswered messages often precede a dispute, so clearing them prevents cases. |
Reconciling against AliExpress Seller Center
Where to look in AliExpress Seller Center: Open the Dispute Centre or Buyer Protection area where AliExpress lists active cases, their stage, and the response deadline for each, then match those against the card’s worklist. Why the Vortex IQ value may legitimately differ:| Reason | Direction | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Stage transitions. A case can move from negotiation to escalation between syncs, briefly changing whether it counts as open. | Variable | Refresh both views before treating a one-case gap as an error. |
| Time-zone framing. Response deadlines are shown in the Seller Center zone, while ageing is measured against your profile zone. | Marginal | Confirm both use the same reference zone when judging the 3-day flag. |
| Recently closed cases. A case you just resolved may linger in one view for a sync before clearing. | Variable | Allow a short settle period after closing a case. |
Known limitations / merchant FAQs
Q: How often does Open Disputes update? It refreshes in real time, re-reading case states continuously so a dispute you respond to or close clears from the worklist at the next sync. Q: Why does my AliExpress Seller Center show a different number? Seller Center reflects the live case list too, but stage transitions, time-zone framing of deadlines, and the lag on a just-closed case can leave the two views briefly out of step. Q: How does Open Disputes relate to other fulfilment metrics? It is the live, case-level front of a chain that rolls up intoaex_dispute_rate and aex_disputes_judged_for_buyer_30d, and it is often driven upstream by aex_late_shipments.
Q: Can I customise the alert threshold?
Yes, sensitivity thresholds are configurable per profile in the Sensitivity tab. Adjust to match your business baseline rather than relying on the generic default.